Tim's journal

Taking metaphors too far since 1995

I don't think that the self-help-writer's comments were of zero usefulness, because you can't overthrow the kyriarchy overnight, and each person has to find a way to survive day-to-day in a system that is hostile to them. Changing how you think about yourself has *some* merit -- it helps some people who have clinical depression and are seeing therapists, so it stands to reason that it could help people dealing with other cognitive distortions.

But if that's the only solution that gets offered to women and people in other marginalized groups, it starts to look like victim-blaming. For people who *are* in power, like faculty members, it's not enough to tell students "it's all in your head". Impostor syndrome is a structural problem and whenever someone wants to individualize a structural problem, we should be suspicious.